


Here I Come

by Huggle



Category: Supernatural
Genre: BAMF Castiel, Gen, POV Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 14:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6758203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggle/pseuds/Huggle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel knows he'll be caught in the end.</p><p>He isn't going to make it easy for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Here I Come

The chase begins in Cairo. He was promised a head start – but that could be an hour, or a second.

Castiel doesn’t rush away as quickly as they probably expected him to. He stops at the edges of the city, takes his bearings, considers whether he should take to flight in any direction and trust to speed rather than stealth.

That he will be caught is inevitable. But he intends to remain free as long as he can.

He takes to cover as the first of his pursuers appears, throws an enchantment over himself which will hide him briefly. Or so he hopes, aware that at any moment he could be brought down with a scream of protest and pain.

But nothing approaches him.

After that, Castiel flees, and stays for a while in one of the tombs under construction. There is an artefact there, something reaching back into darkness, and the taint it exudes is painful to him. But it will also mask his presence, so he stays still and quiet, and blots out the discomfort.

Days later, once the tomb has been sealed behind its new inhabitant, he emerges and heads next to Iona. The place is wild, lonely. He sits inside, hiding as it were in plain sight – in his Father’s house, any trace of him will be overshadowed by the power here.... He lets it bolster him, fuel the strength he will need to survive the coming days.

But eventually, he has to go. No stone will be left unturned. He knows how impossible it is to evade The Host. Other, better angels have tried. But though each day he remains free should fill him with hope, it just makes it more likely that the net is closing around him.

As he moves on, seeking whatever cover is available to him, using whatever knowledge he has – even resources that Heaven would perhaps frown upon, if that matters in these circumstances – he wonders what it will feel like when he is finally brought down.

Will evading them for longer earn him greater wrath?

Three days later, the feeling of something powerful pursuing him drives him to desperate measures. He descends towards the pit. It becomes something of a dare – he will not enter Perdition, to do so without the backing of a garrison would see him quickly overcome and either taken prisoner or destroyed. But he wonders if the angel bearing down on him will think him worth the pursuit.

One of them will have to turn back first. 

It won’t be him.

He flies lower, feels the heinous fire as he passes down through the mortal realm, aware that he is still being pursued. Soon it will be too late to turn back at all; he will be seen and his approach met with teeth and claws.

Something grabs hold of him then, cold and powerful, and halts his descent. He struggles, fruitlessly, and is borne upwards, away from the darkness he had been plunging headlong towards.

“Castiel. Castiel, stop.” 

Castiel feels his brother’s grace envelop and bind him. He fights a little longer, but in the end his strength is sapped and he has to surrender.

Michael keeps hold of him until they return home, and even then he keeps one hand fisted in Castiel’s wings.

“Because you never know when to truly give in,” he explains, when Castiel tries to tug free and cannot, and so fixes his brother with a questioning glance. “But you did well. That last act of ....I don’t know whether to term it cunning or desperation. A little of both, maybe?”

Castiel stays silent. He isn’t sure if the test is over yet.

“It’s done,” Michael soothes him. He lets go of Castiel’s wings and steps back to allow the younger angel space. “Although, I have to admit you evaded me far longer than I expected. Nothing to say?”

“I did what was required.”

Michael smiles at him. “That’s a good little angel.” Castiel finds some warmth beneath the mocking tone, but not enough. “You know there is a situation, Castiel. We are sending a force down to the enemy, to recover something. I think after your performance today, it would be foolhardy not to send you along.”

He takes Castiel’s arm, leads him back to the garrison. “We will be sending you after a soul.”


End file.
